In all Russian regions, the remaining specialized stores of the LG, Bosch and Sony brands began to gradually close. Representatives of the companies clarify that some stores will remain open for the next three months until all remaining products are sold, Kommersant reports.
According to market experts, many foreign manufacturers of household appliances and electronics did not close their stores for one reason only: in this case, they would have to pay serious fines to landlords. It is also noted that stores owned by Chinese and Turkish suppliers are already appearing in place of the departed Western, Japanese and Korean companies.
Journalists from the Kommersant publication say that at the beginning of February 2024, specialized stores of LG and Sony in the Afimall City shopping center were closed. LG technical support stated that all brand stores in Russia will be closed due to “no supplies.” According to the official website of LG, the brand had four specialized stores in Moscow.
Sony said that the manufacturer’s mono-brand stores remaining open in Moscow will remain open until approximately the summer of 2024 in order to also sell off all remaining stock. It is noted that previously there were mono-brand Sony stores in every million-plus city in Russia, but now, due to Western sanctions, they were forced to close.
In addition to Asian companies, the German manufacturer Bosch will also soon close its stores. The company’s technical support clarifies that almost all stores are already closed, and the remaining ones are selling off their leftovers.
According to one source in the Russian retail market, stores of European, Korean and Asian brands began to close completely only now, because many of them had multi-year lease agreements, in case of premature termination of which they would have to immediately transfer all payments. In addition, in some cases one would also have to pay serious fines. In this regard, as the expert noted, some companies simply decided to “see out” until the end of the contract, despite the cessation of official deliveries back in 2022.
At the same time, the specialist, during a conversation with journalists from the Kommersant publication, also emphasized that mainly household appliance stores are closing, since they are unprofitable, and manufacturers no longer need to promote their goods on the territory of the Russian Federation. In addition, it is currently beneficial for Samsung partners to have a network of mono-brand stores, because they mainly sell tablets and smartphones.
Evgenia Prilutskaya, director of the infrastructure retail department at CORE.XP, noted an interesting fact: LG in the Russian Federation has never been widely represented by its mono-brand stores, since the manufacturer was more focused on corporate clients. Therefore, all mono-brand Sony and LG stores in Russia were used by manufacturers, first of all, to promote their products and advertising. In this regard, it is hardly possible to talk about any serious losses for manufacturers due to the closure of their stores.
